Exercise After an Injury: How To Make It Happen
No matter if you have got shin splints from a lot of running or recovering from a sprain or a broken bone, you will have had some time out from your normal physical and exercise routine. If you’re starting to feel better, then you are likely to want to get moving again as quickly as possible. You might feel ready to go full force, but that might not always be the best course of action, especially after an injury. If you want to make sure that you recover well and come back in the right way, then here are some of the best ways to do just that.
Get the go-ahead from your doctor
You might think that you’re ready to go, but are you really? Before you get back into it, it is best to get the go-ahead from your doctor or physical therapist, whoever you have been working with, to say that you are ready to go. Even if you know they will say yes, it is best to get it checked out and approved. Your doctor or a physical therapist may have even given you some specific workouts or moves that you could do. Looking after the injured area is important, but be careful to not overextend. If you push yourself too soon then it could make your injury worse. Consequently, you could find that you have to take more time out of exercising in the long term.
Get support
There are two kinds of support that you will need when getting back into exercising. One of which is emotional support, such as from a coach, a friend, or your old gym buddy. Having someone there to exercise with, with whom you can cheer each other on, can be just what you need when getting back into it. You are also likely to need physical support too. These could be wrap supports and bandage supports, much like the ones sold at ScripHessco, that will help to support the previous injury area, as you get started again with exercise. When you’re supported, in two ways rather than one, you will be able to get back into exercise much more easily.
If your injury was caused by an accident you may want to get support with looking for compensation for injuries. Health care and rehab can be very expensive.
Prepare yourself mentally
When you have the all-clear that you’re ready to get going again, then it can feel a little overwhelming. You might be anxious to start using your limb again after a break. You may also be worried that you’ll cause the same problem to happen again. There will be lessons to learn from your last injury. However, part of moving forward will be to move forward feeling positive and prepared mentally. Remember all the things you enjoyed before and how good it will feel to do it all again. When you face this setback with positivity, you will be able to recover well and any potential nerves around training again can be put at ease when you’re prepared mentally.
The key is to make sure that your body is prepared, both physically and mentally. Then your recovery will be much more straightforward and the chance of injury again will be reduced.
For more exercise tips check out these articles.
22 thoughts on “Three Steps to Get Back into Exercise After an Injury”
I am not that kind of the “fit bud” person.. SO I really don’t know the excitement or eagerness to do exercises again after an injury.. but i think to be safe one must ask the doctor if it is ok to do such..
Asking the doctor is always the safest bet.
Preparing yourself mentally would be a great help on how to start again. Your mind and body should be both ready.
Mind and body alignment definitely allows us to move forward more easily.
Great tips! I love exercising and it helps me relax a lot!
Exercising releases great energy and tons of relaxing energy too.
SO many good tips and it can really be a hard thing to do!
It can be but if we are careful and follow doctors’ orders we can do it.
Use it or lose it as they say. I know physical therapy and chiropractic can be helpful for getting back to work after an injury.
Use it or lose it OR don’t use it and don’t lose it.
“Prepare yourself mentally”…..this is very very important. No matter how good the doctor is, if the mind is not ready, rehabilitation will be as slow as possible!
Emotional health is the cornerstone of all health.
It can be hard to get back into the rhythm of exercise after an injury so full support from peers and medical clearance is indeed needed.
It can be quite difficult and sometimes we do it too early.
These are great tips. It’s so hard to get back into working out after an injury. You could hurt yourself even more if you don’t know what to do or how.
You can hurt yourself if you do not what you’re doing or if you return too soon.
I heard it that when you temporarily stop your exercise routine, the less likely you will get back in your exercise regimen again. So, it is better to have an exercise buddy to motivate and assist you to be active again.
The more days in between exercise sessions, the harder it is to stay consistent.
I can totally relate to this! It is important to take it slow. It’s easy to want to go back to exactly what you were doing before an injury put you out, but not so quick! Make sure to keep things low intensity and see a physical therapist!
Take it slow and be careful as you re-enter.
exercise is really good for the body/health.. but usually will take some time if you have had injury! yeah true that you must get a go signal from your doctor before indulging!
Consistent exercise feels so good that by the time you have to miss a session or two that makes you feel poorly.